Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Jairam Ramesh: Minister who gave new meaning to environmental governance by Urmi A Goswami

Jairam Ramesh: Minister who gave new meaning to environmental governance by Urmi A Goswami

Share this article Share this article
published Published on Feb 21, 2011   modified Modified on Feb 21, 2011
Then Clive Lloyd took over the West Indies cricket team, he knew he was no Garfield Sobers. Lloyd focused on infusing discipline and strategy sessions with the team. "Both exceptional leaders, Sobers led by example, while Lloyd built a team. I suspect Jairam Ramesh is more like Sobers," an environment analyst sums up his assessment of the minister.

The Sobers analogy crops up, in explicit and implicit ways, in any discussion on environment minister Ramesh. Even as he talks of building institutions, Ramesh comes across as a one-man force. He has changed the way business is conducted in Paryavaran Bhavan . He has brought a new sense of purpose and energy into it, turning the erstwhile wallflower ministry into the belle or enfant terrible of the government.

Yet, he evokes a range of reactions among officials. Some see him as a lone ranger. "He doesn't keep the ministry informed, there is no consultation, and he behaves as if he is also a secretary to the government," says a former senior bureaucrat who worked with him in the ministry. "The ministry gets to know of decisions after they have been taken."

Similarly, some bureaucrats are miffed by his penchant for forming committees, filled with outside experts. Ramesh says this approach is to "supplement and not supplant" the ministry's functions and role. "There is an intellectual honesty in Ramesh," says another senior official who has worked with him. "He is open to engaging with officials, but he does his own thinking."

The truth may lie somewhere in between, but even those sympathetic to Ramesh say his handling of ministry matters does not qualify as good institution building. A weak process indirectly boosts his giant-killer image.

Ramesh's Sobers avatar gives rise to an underlying concern: après Ramesh le deluge (after Ramesh, the deluge)? "Ramesh's main task is institutional reform, and he hasn't delivered," says Ravi Agarwal, director of voluntary organisation Toxics Link. "One can't doubt his intentions. He is probably the best minister this sector has had, but he has become the institution." One-third through his five-year tenure, Ramesh's focus has been on fire-fighting and housekeeping. After the initial focus on environmental governance reform, Ramesh has been caught up in the moment — Bt Brinjal, Navi Mumbai, Vedanta , Posco, Lavasa , Adarsh and so on. "Ideally, it would be great to create institutions, but it takes time," he says.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Ramesh has made significant institutional interventions. He broke the logjam on the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority, whose mandate is to increase the country's forest cover. The latest Coastal Regulatory Zone regulation represents a better balance between environmental concerns and development. And, for the first time, India has legally enforceable provisions for conservation and management of its wetlands.

Ramesh followed this up with his two big ideas for institutional change. The first big idea was green tribunals for civil redress of all environment- and forest-related grievances. The second was an independent, professional and science-based body to appraise, monitor and ensure compliance of statutory safeguards.

The legal structure for National Green Tribunal is in place and the National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority is work in progress. But there is a concern this is not enough. Part of that greater expectation stems from the sense that Ramesh represents a chance for change. He has brought environment into the economic discourse. "He is an exceptional person. It (an environment minister like him) has not happened before and it will not happen again," says a long-time environmental activist. "Now is the time for decisions on institutions."

The concern is that if Ramesh doesn't institutionalise the change he is driving, it will not outlast him. If he acknowledges the importance of building institutions, why isn't he seizing the opportunity?

BARRIERS TO REFORM

Some say Ramesh is not interested. The environment ministry, they say, is an opportunity for Ramesh to improve his political standing, especially with the Congress leadership, which sees the environmental legacy as its own. Many party colleagues see shades of Richard III in him. "At one time, Jairam was the blue-eyed boy of the prime minister and Chidambaram. He used them and moved ahead. No one has a high opinion of him," says a Congress leader. "After this stint, he will probably get a bigger posting."

Ramesh's political reality adds to this impression. The Rajya Sabha MP from Andhra Pradesh has no mass or political base. As his leader's brains trust, he draws his strength from the Congress leadership, particularly Sonia Gandhi. Ramesh proved his utility by successfully piloting the aam aadmi campaign, which saw the Congress return to power.

Political analysts are not sure how seriously the Congress takes the environment. In that sense, Ramesh's political mandate is defined — and limited — by the concerns of the party's core leadership.

Another factor impeding institutional reform is the development imperative, translated as double-digit economic growth by most of Ramesh's colleagues. The 'growth overrides everything' credo presumes that objective rules for environmental governance will hamper growth. Therefore, the government favours a 'case-by-case approach', which leaves ample room for non-objective considerations in decision-making. A case in point is the approval to South Korean steelmaker Posco's project in Orissa, the largest foreign direct investment till date. The project's strategic importance in terms of the 'look east policy' was a key consideration for its approval.

This is probably why pronouncements on systemic improvements in environmental regulation invariably get tagged with the statutory warning of a return to the licence era. Ramesh says he is not opposed to growth or industry. "Twenty years ago, when I was pushing for the liberalisation of FDI, industry wasn't keen," he says. "Now, these same guys are trying to teach me the value of FDI."

He understands that the dominant thinking on the approach to economic growth requires compromises on environment. So instead of building on institutions, Ramesh has adopted a case-by-case approach. "Had I not taken the kind of initial position I took on, say, the Navi Mumbai airport, I would not have got the cooperation I got," Ramesh says. "What may appear to be inflexibility is really a tactical strategy. Without it, you can't get people to start thinking on issues."

REFORMS INTERRUPTED?

Meanwhile, 20 months after work began on them, neither of his two big ideas — the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the National Environment Assessment and Monitoring Authority — are functionally in place. The NGT is expected to replace the complex judicial system for environment-related grievances: a three-tier judicial redress process, an appellate authority against ministry decisions, and a Supreme Court forest bench dealing with clearance issues.

The NGT will replace two tiers of courts and the appellate authority, but there is no clarity yet on what happens to the SC bench. The NGT was launched in October 2010 but is yet to start functioning. The delay apart, the NGT has also been criticised for limited access, the likelihood of appointing bureaucrats as expert members, and that companies too can appeal against the rejection of clearance. "The NGT should have been like consumer courts — existing over and above the regular courts," says Shankar Gopalakrishnan of People's Campaign for Survival and Dignity.

Activists say that limiting the tribunal's original jurisdiction to just five benches is an act of bad faith. "Environment is part of the right to life," says Gopalakrishnan. "You can't restrict access to remedies to just five cities, further still by banning civil-court jurisdiction." Defends Ramesh: "I expect there will be one (NGT bench) in every state in the next few years."

The other institutional intervention, NEAMA, is yet to see the light of day. In September 2009, a discussion paper on a scientific body that decides on projects was put up for public comments on the ministry's website. Ramesh wanted to divest the ministry of powers to decide on approvals, barring exceptional cases. In May 2010, following a public consultation with civil society states, the ministry went back to the drawing board.

Almost nine months later, the idea of NEAMA came into play. The NEAMA is qualitatively different and limited in scope than the earlier proposal. Unlike the NGT, the NEAMA will not be set up by an Act of Parliament, but by an executive order. This allows the ministry to retain some powers: projects "beyond a threshold" — that is yet to be determined — will be approved by the minister. The relationship between NEAMA and existing regulatory bodies is still being worked on.

CAPTAIN'S CHOICE

Even otherwise, Ramesh has taken steps to bring in a measure of objectivity or a science-based approach to issues: measuring the pollution levels of industrial clusters, the determination of no-go and go areas in forests, and the mapping of a hazard line on Indian coasts. However, these efforts have not been followed through to their institutional end, leaving them open for manipulation and distortion.

Take an August 2009 circular that states no forest clearance will be given till the gram sabha (village council) passes a resolution that all claims have been settled under the Forest Rights Act and that the village has no objection to diverting the land. Ramesh oversaw this circular, indicating a commitment to the Forest Rights Act, 2006. However, it is yet to find its way into the Forest Conservation Act, or the rules under the Act. This gives the government an opportunity to go around the provisions, as happened in the final forest clearance to Posco (in December 2009) and Polavaram (July 2010).

Ramesh subsequently took steps to address this, writing to two successive chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh on implementation issues. "He does want to build institutions, but there will always be opposition," says an official who has worked closely with Ramesh. "In fact, he is the correct personality for the time. He can cajole and negotiate well."

There is the whiff of Sobers again. In 20 months, Ramesh appears to have centred all change on himself, rather than managing such pressures through institutional mechanisms. For example, benchmarks have not been set for sustainable environment and natural resource management, and how these should be reflected in policy. "There has to be a baseline for any action, and these should be fiercely guarded," says Agarwal. "An objective premise may not prevent manipulation, but it will mean it is done on some kind of a premise as against an arbitrary play."

Environmental historian Mahesh Rangarajan says Ramesh's work is still "an unfolding drama". "But when the dust settles, will he have put in new markers in the environment landscape? That is the touchstone to judge him by. Not by what he does on the job, but by the legacy he leaves behind," he says. "That is more than can be said of his predecessors in the last quarter century."

Ramesh can follow Sobers' path, and continue to be the lone defender of environmental laws and regulations. Or, he can take the path of a third West Indian cricket captain, Sir Frank Worrell. The first black captain of West Indies for an entire series, Worrell's insistence on fair play and his egalitarian resolute succeeded in welding together a team that rose above its separate island identities to become a force to reckon with. Without Worrell, there would not have been a Sobers or Lloyd. In taking a leaf out of Worrell's book, Ramesh's efforts at change could well provide the basis for a stronger — and more enduring — environmental governance system. The choice is his. Or, is it?

With M Rajshekhar

The Economic Times, 22 February, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/jairam-ramesh-minister-who-gave-new-meaning-to-environmental-governance/articleshow/7543787.cms

Tagged with: Environment



Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...

Im4Change.org हिंदी वेबसाइट का परिचय. Short Video on im4change.org...

"Session 1: Scope of IDEA and AgriStack" in Exploring...

"Session 2: Farmer Centric Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...

"Session 3: Future of Digitalisation in Agriculture" in Exploring...

Objectives | About Us | Workshops | Disclaimer
share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close